How To Choose A Crime Scene Clean Up Service: Do’s And Don’ts

What is a Crime Cleanup Service?

A crime clean up service is a crew of people that can come to your home or business to clean up the results of a criminal act or and/or death after the police have finished with the crime scene. They are certified to clean up hazardous materials and bodily fluids that a regular cleaning service cannot and are used to handling these sort of assignments respectfully and efficiently to reduce the amount of stress the homeowner or business must go through after the death or crime. They clean up scenes that run from a very light amount of blood all the way to a more serious scene where someone may have rested deceased for a long time. Their job is to help make the scene and all of the things associated with it clean and livable again.

There are a few Do’s and Don’ts that you will need to remember when hiring a clean up crew:

Do’s:

Survey the Scene: This is the best way to gauge if a crime clean up crew is needed. If there are no hazardous materials lying around and minimal cleanup, you could avoid the additional expense.

Talk to the police for a suggestion on who to hire. Many cleaning crews of this type regularly work with local law enforcement to help clean up the scene of a crime or traffic accident and know who can offer this service

Ask for proof of certification. This is the best way to know if the company you are planning to hire will do the job well and efficiently using the right materials.

Hire a certified crew if you have a scene where materials such as human or animal waste, blood and chemicals like tear gas or acids have been spilled. These sort of scenes which often occur in places where a crime has been committed, an unattended suicide or death has occurred, police have found it necessary to raid, or a meth lab has been found require special cleaning to be made ready for safe entry.

Don’ts:

Expect a clean up crew to clean your home or business like a maid service. Their job is to take care of the hazardous materials that have come in contact with them; not work on your bathroom!

Use the “on the side” guy. Proper certification is extremely important! A certified hazardous materials crime scene crew will get out all of the material without leaving any of the material behind. Some crime scene clean up crews are such in name alone and often leave behind these materials and use only bleach.

Attempt to clean these scenes yourself! There are many pathogens you may not be aware of involved in these sort of clean and special equipment and cleansers must be used to truly clear the area. You may miss many spots you don’t see and aren’t trained to look. You may also end up throwing out materials that won’t need to be thrown out if properly cleaned.